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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Rick Riordan
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December 4 - December 14, 2023
My name is Magnus Chase. I’m sixteen years old. This is the story of how my life went downhill after I got myself killed.
“You missed a pedestrian,” I said. “You want to go back and hit her?”
“The statue of Leif Erikson…Does that mean the Vikings—er, the Norse—discovered Boston? I thought the Pilgrims did that.” “I could give you a three-hour lecture on that topic alone.” “Please don’t.” “Suffice it to say, the Norse explored North America and even built settlements around the year 1000, almost five hundred years before Christopher Columbus. Scholars agree on that.” “That’s a relief. I hate it when scholars disagree.”
“Myths are simply stories about truths we’ve forgotten.”
“YOU CAN’T DROP a bombshell like that and walk away!” I yelled as Randolph walked away.
I pointed my once-might-have-been-a-sword at Surt. “Cool down, man. I have a corroded piece of metal and I’m not afraid to use it.”
“We’ll cover you!” Blitz charged by me. “Run!” Surt hadn’t been expecting an attack by lightly armed bums.
Weakly, I raised my free hand. I flipped him a gesture that he wouldn’t need to know sign language to understand.
“Be careful,” Sam warned me. “Gunilla is powerful.” “Also kind of a butt.” The corner of Sam’s mouth twitched. “That, too.”
I looked in the mirror again. “You, sir,” I muttered, “look like a huge dork.” My reflection did not argue.
“Don’t mind Mallory. She’s a sweetheart, once you get past the fact that she’s a horrible person.”
“Go, Magnus Beantown,” said the half-troll. “Take the crest for floor nineteen!” “My nickname will not be Beantown,” I muttered. “I refuse.”
happen to be a svartalf.” “A fart elf?”
Hearth developed a faint smile, which for him was the equivalent of rolling on the floor laughing. He signed, fart elf.
“Could you do a glamour and turn into something smaller?” I asked it. “Preferably not a chain, since it’s no longer the 1990s?” The sword didn’t reply (duh), but I imagined it was humming at a more interrogative pitch, like, Such as what? “I dunno. Something pocket-size and innocuous. A pen, maybe?” The sword pulsed, almost like it was laughing. I imagined it saying, A pen sword. That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
I doubted anyone would look twice at my new medallion. They’d see the and assume it stood for ailure.
Blitz gestured to his metal sculpture. “It’s a duck.” Nabbi blinked. “And…what does it do?” “When I press its back…” Blitzen did so. The duck swelled to three times its size, like a frightened pufferfish. “It turns into a larger duck.” The second judge scratched his beard. “That’s it?” “Well, yes,” Blitz said. “I call it the Expando-Duck. It’s perfect if you need a small metal duck. Or a larger metal duck.”
Hearth signed, Is it talking? I don’t read sword lips. “What is he saying?” Jack asked. “I don’t read elf hands.”
As my vision went dark, Sam and Hearth helped me leap off the cliff. Because, you know, what are friends for?
“Sure,” the goat said. “Ride me, kill me, whatever.
Hearthstone Passes Out Even More than Jason Grace (Though I Have No Idea Who That Is)
Otis the goat bleated. “Go on. I love depressing stories.” “Be quiet,” Sam ordered. “I’ll just be quiet, then,” the goat agreed.
“Jack.” The sword hovered next to me. “Yeah?” “You see that massive giantess blocking the river?” “Technically speaking,” Jack said, “I can’t see anything, because I don’t have eyes. But yes, I see the giant.”
“I hate this plan,” I said. “Let’s do it.”
“I know what it feels like to be an empty cup, to have everything taken away from you. But you’re not alone. However much magic you need to use, it’s okay. We’ve got you. We’re your family.”
